Joe- Answer to your question goes something like this. Bryan Whipple had the Eureka Southern from 1984-1986, when the road entered receivership under the direction of trustee Jerry Gregg. Jerry's plans submitted to the bankruptcy court in late 1990 called for the EUKA to be be sold or liquidated, but the courts rejected that plan as inadequate. Meanwhile, the California state legislature passed a bill creating the North Coast Railroad Authority, owned by Humboldt, Mendocino, and Trinity counties. NCRA tendered an offer to the bankruptcy court, who ordered the sale, which closed on 1 April 1992. NCRA itself set up the North Coast Railroad to replace Eureka Southern as operator. California Northern leased the line south of Willits in 1993. In 1997, several years of negotiations resulted in a series of transactions. Sonoma County joined NCRA's ownership group, and that entity acquired the line from Willits south to Healdsburg. A new entity, the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Authority, itself owned by NCRA, Golden Gate Bridge District, and Marin County, purchased the line south of Healdsburg. NCRA obtained a permanent freight easement over this line. NCRA at that point changed the name of its North Coast Railroad to the Northwestern Pacific, as it acquired rights to the name and logo along with the line. It was they who got the black widow painted power leased from Omnitrax. NCRA decided they wanted out of the railroad operating business, I think they had John Darling and his Rail-Ways on board just before the FRA emergency orders closed the south end. Rail-Ways did do the work that returned part of the south end to operation in 2001 for a few months, until NCRA removed them as a result of a contract dispute, which sparked so litigation between the parties for quite a while. Meanwhile, SMART bought out Norrhwestern Pacific Railroad Authority, though NCRA retained is freight easement, which is what John Williams and his investor's NWP operates over today. Does this help? Any other questions?

Jeff Moore
Elko, NV